Vinyl cutter help

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michmetalman
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Vinyl cutter help

Post by michmetalman »

Hey guys, I want to start cutting vinyl for some metal but I have no idea what machine to get. I don't need anything professional or huge, but want a good quality. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Gamelord
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by Gamelord »

US cutter. I got my wife one - MH871 MK2 - and she loves it. They have excellent service and parts. Good prices on low budget cutters. I think her's was under 300 with a vinyl supply kit and stand. 36" cutting surface.

She cuts my plasma drawings out with it and has even started having me cut her vinyl designs out on my table.
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ovrrdrive
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by ovrrdrive »

Just bought my wife a Silhouette Cameo 3 and she is going to town with it. The bed is a little smaller than something like the US mentioned above but you can also run 12" wide rolls through it if you need bigger. The software was what led me to it. My wife isn't very computer savvy and the software got good reviews, looked pretty intuitive and did a lot of the functions that are a pain in the ass to do for the plasma table automatically. I got it a few months ago and she's currently selling about 30-50 decals on local facebook groups a week at $5-20 each. People eat that stuff up.

Plus it cuts vinyl, card stock, fabric, photos, can duplicate and emboss. It's a pretty nice all around machine.
michmetalman
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by michmetalman »

Thanks guys! I primarily will be using the decals on textured metal. I tried some that a lady sent me because she was cutting for me, but I need one on site. Anyways, it did not stick to the textured black...it is a very slick coating. She then sent me some different stuff and it stuck great. How would I know what vinyl will stick to what?
michmetalman
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by michmetalman »

ovrrdrive wrote:Just bought my wife a Silhouette Cameo 3 and she is going to town with it. The bed is a little smaller than something like the US mentioned above but you can also run 12" wide rolls through it if you need bigger. The software was what led me to it. My wife isn't very computer savvy and the software got good reviews, looked pretty intuitive and did a lot of the functions that are a pain in the ass to do for the plasma table automatically. I got it a few months ago and she's currently selling about 30-50 decals on local facebook groups a week at $5-20 each. People eat that stuff up.

Plus it cuts vinyl, card stock, fabric, photos, can duplicate and emboss. It's a pretty nice all around machine.
Thanks!! Where did you get this machine?
michmetalman
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by michmetalman »

Gamelord wrote:US cutter. I got my wife one - MH871 MK2 - and she loves it. They have excellent service and parts. Good prices on low budget cutters. I think her's was under 300 with a vinyl supply kit and stand. 36" cutting surface.

She cuts my plasma drawings out with it and has even started having me cut her vinyl designs out on my table.
Thanks for the info!
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by ovrrdrive »

michmetalman wrote:
ovrrdrive wrote:Just bought my wife a Silhouette Cameo 3 and she is going to town with it. The bed is a little smaller than something like the US mentioned above but you can also run 12" wide rolls through it if you need bigger. The software was what led me to it. My wife isn't very computer savvy and the software got good reviews, looked pretty intuitive and did a lot of the functions that are a pain in the ass to do for the plasma table automatically. I got it a few months ago and she's currently selling about 30-50 decals on local facebook groups a week at $5-20 each. People eat that stuff up.

Plus it cuts vinyl, card stock, fabric, photos, can duplicate and emboss. It's a pretty nice all around machine.
Thanks!! Where did you get this machine?
I got ours from Amazon. There are several different packages. I got the one with the pens and an assortment of vinyl. It was either $269 or $299, don't recall exactly. The bare machine is around $199. It's probably not commercial quality so to speak but it works well and there are a few facebook groups with over 100,000 members in them so there is a lot of support too.
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by michmetalman »

ovrrdrive wrote:
michmetalman wrote:
ovrrdrive wrote:Just bought my wife a Silhouette Cameo 3 and she is going to town with it. The bed is a little smaller than something like the US mentioned above but you can also run 12" wide rolls through it if you need bigger. The software was what led me to it. My wife isn't very computer savvy and the software got good reviews, looked pretty intuitive and did a lot of the functions that are a pain in the ass to do for the plasma table automatically. I got it a few months ago and she's currently selling about 30-50 decals on local facebook groups a week at $5-20 each. People eat that stuff up.

Plus it cuts vinyl, card stock, fabric, photos, can duplicate and emboss. It's a pretty nice all around machine.
Thanks!! Where did you get this machine?
I got ours from Amazon. There are several different packages. I got the one with the pens and an assortment of vinyl. It was either $269 or $299, don't recall exactly. The bare machine is around $199. It's probably not commercial quality so to speak but it works well and there are a few facebook groups with over 100,000 members in them so there is a lot of support too.
I'm reading on them, seems to be a real nice machine. As far as vinyl..where do you get it? Also, I had a lady cut for me but her regular vinyl would not stick to my textured black...which is 90% of my coatings. How do you know what vinyl to get for that? She eventually ordered other stuff and it worke great.
Thanks for the help!
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by tnbndr »

How do you know what vinyl to get for that? She eventually ordered other stuff and it worke great.
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by shiner2001 »

I have a Cricut Explore Air that I use for small projects. I'd love to have a larger one like mentioned above, but this is great for what I've needed.
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by ovrrdrive »

michmetalman wrote: I'm reading on them, seems to be a real nice machine. As far as vinyl..where do you get it? Also, I had a lady cut for me but her regular vinyl would not stick to my textured black...which is 90% of my coatings. How do you know what vinyl to get for that? She eventually ordered other stuff and it worke great.
Thanks for the help!
I order everything from Amazon. The wife buys from Michael's locally and orders from all over the internet if they mention the word sale or special. We use 651 for everything but I have not tried to stick anything to a textured surface yet. 651 is considered permanent application, 631 temporary, and she's gotten a few offbrand vinyls that don't seem to cut or weed well, and peel off if you look at them funny. I'd stick to 651.
michmetalman
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by michmetalman »

ovrrdrive wrote:
michmetalman wrote: I'm reading on them, seems to be a real nice machine. As far as vinyl..where do you get it? Also, I had a lady cut for me but her regular vinyl would not stick to my textured black...which is 90% of my coatings. How do you know what vinyl to get for that? She eventually ordered other stuff and it worke great.
Thanks for the help!
I order everything from Amazon. The wife buys from Michael's locally and orders from all over the internet if they mention the word sale or special. We use 651 for everything but I have not tried to stick anything to a textured surface yet. 651 is considered permanent application, 631 temporary, and she's gotten a few offbrand vinyls that don't seem to cut or weed well, and peel off if you look at them funny. I'd stick to 651.
Thanks a bunch, I ordered one and am pretty excited!
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by gamble »

I have the silhouette portrait, it cuts maybe 8” wife
Small and inexpensive. Been great for a few years now. Love it
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Re: Vinyl cutter help

Post by Bigdogbro1 »

I have a Cricut Explore Air and it works great for those smaller 12"x12" projects. Also have a US Cutter MH871 MK2 for larger stuff and it seems to be okay. I use Oracal vinyls with great results.

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